Seqouia and Yosemite camping in 2014

Finally i took time from my marathon work to update my blog and complete most of the pending pages. 

I wanted to take Arshiya (Gingiri) to camping, when she is still kid. we started taking her to outdoor trips(mainly taking to national parks when she was less than an year old( i think we started taking her 5 - 8 hours drive long trips after 6 months). They were not in US for an year after 1 yr, she enjoyed her whole 2nd year with grandparents and cousins. 

They were back in 2014 and fall season of same year we did camping in Sequoia and Yosemite back to back within a couple of weeks.  3rd week of august 2014, we went to Sequoia National park for camping. we got site at lodgepole and it was 2 night trip with extra leave on following Monday.  these two trip i want to see how Gingiri cope up and whether she is onto outdoor/campings.  It bit different at campgrounds, we will not get all the comforts of our home, specially the cozy bed and blankets. 

we tried our best to make her comfortable by carrying her toys, lot of blankets, we even packed all India food supplies( rice, vegetables, milk).  we have one burner stove top, we started real cooking ourselves with this trip. 

Until then we always went campings with friends and in groups. even though we cooked a lot, we never really used propane stoves, every time we cooked on campfire rings. this trip was lot of challenging for us to understand what works and what won't work. what Gingiri likes food wise. how we can manage food for Gingiri and i will put ourselves as very very amateurs by that time.

All our driving schedules are planned based to Gingiri sleeping routines so we can drive long distances with break. When she is awake we knew we could not more than 2hours without break and break will not be quick ones like it used to be for both us when we did long road trips. we started just before noon from north of San Diego, Rancho Bernardo , and yes we hit the traffic badly when we crossed grapevine we were pretty much an 2 hours  behind the schedule including lunch break at Lebec rest-area on I-5 north around 12 miles before Grapevine.  I was kind of hopping to reach before enough day light is left so Gingiri can play.
After lunch, we filled the tank at Grapevine and straight to CA99 then took CA65 and east CA198. just before leaving Visalia, we stopped at grocery shop/super market. we purchased food supplies(soda, vegetables and egg) and also filled the gas one more time before entering sierra mountains.
Finally we were at campground way before sunset,  we  put a tent in nice flat ground even though campground is rocky area.  Restroom and dish washing places are next to our campground otherwise we need to walk bunch of times back and forth. Once we unload from the car and dumped all sleeping bags, pads, blankets... everything in the tent..zipped everything.  Then next big thing is fire, while i was working in fire we let Gingiri play within our eye site, one BIG rule we kind of decided before the trip at given time one person should be watching Gingiri  Bot should not work at the same time.  While I am busy with tent, campfire setup unloading Lakshmi watching Gingiri.  Campground and surrounding are heaven for Gingiri at that age. She played a lot on the ground. After burner is turned on, i handed over to Lakshmi then Gingiri and myself are at campfire chilling out. 

we prepared proper Indian dinner rice and curry. I took very long time for us with single burner. first day was far better as we prepared most of the dinner at home and at campsite its just heat them except boiling milk for Arshiya bunch of times. Milk was our backup plan for Arshiya(we knew she would be totally fine just with milk, But we did not wanted that). even reheating seems to be took very long time. next to our site one Chinese group around 12 to 15 people just before sunset. we were just starting when they stopped their vehicles. they worked pretty fast one group took care of tents, one group fire the coal, they made sort of plate to cook using aluminum foil. within 30 mins they cooked everything for everyone, they started eating. we could not even finish half of our dinner cooking. 

It was totally dark when our dinner was ready. First, we fed Arshiya then we ate with turns. Gingiri cooperated a lot in campground and sleeping in tents.we slept after 11 i guess after cleaning all utensils and packing everything in bear lock container.

Next morning when we get up, Chinese group almost packed everything and they were about to have breakfast and leave. i was amazed at their speed. when we finished our breakfast it was almost noon, then we took Gingiri to General Sherman Tree hike, We drove to parking lot behind the main road. it was bit challenging to get a parking spot. Gingiri did not let me or Lakshmi touch her while walking on downhill, she wanted to do her own. downhill was sort of OK not much overload. hiking back was very tough, this trip i did not bring my DSLR so i don't have extra weights. while coming back to campground we stopped at general store, we bought burger and fries from food court before we left we also took care of showers.  Rest of the day we did not plan anything, it was simple cook dinner for all 3 have dinner and go to sleep. it looked like we spent hours and hours just cooking, everyone else just spending fraction of time what we took.

Next day, when we got up we just brushed and packed everything left campground. we stopped a store for quick bite. there was a road working going on inside the park that year. we were stopped for a while. Then releases the traffic, as soon as car starts i observed hard to brake. with few mins i stopped at one turn and stop because of hot brakes. we stayed there for an hour may be. Park Ranger came stopped and i explained the scenario. he helped us to get back to lodgepole general store, that where his office was there. Then i called Wuksachi Lodge to get a room. we were lucky there is only room left, immediately i reserved the room we took all the luggage, took park bus to get to hotel. After check-in and waited 30 minutes to  settle Arshiya and Lakshmi and then left the room to take care of car breakdown. i went to the store to call to AAA to get some help. i was not successful at the sunset the same park ranger saw me calling from public phone, he jumped in to help me.

 He is very nice, i was invited to his office i called to AAA from there. they are not responding to me properly. he saw the whole drama for an hour. he thought something is wrong. He took in-charge talked to AAA agent on-behalf of me, it took almost one hour to get towing confirmation from AAA. At least he said, he is not surprised why it took for me for ever just to inform AAA and get help to towing in the park.  Problem was there are unable to locate the place what we are saying. luckily i was AAA premier member so i need to pay anything for unto 100 miles of towing. Finally i got a confirmation from towing company from three rivers, CA, he said he will tow the vehicle after 10. at that time i am not sure where to park the car, So i requested him to tow to parking lot and next morning i called AAA again to tow from hotel parking lot to repair center. After bit struggle, i got the the same towing vehicle and it was almost  12PM by the time i was at repair center. i requested them to complete the fixes by end of day. They did their best from the moment i dumped the at shop. within an hour they found the couples of issues, they ordered the parts and told me they may not finish by closing the day.   i went out a bit for having lunch after 2 hours



i came back and sat in the small office, luckily i got the laptop and i am in in my world browsing something. trying to figure out all combinations if car is not fixed. approximately by 4 or 5PM i was told, they will be done fixing the car by 6 before they close the shop.
I was flattered for their service, very quick and very very economy compared to San Diego repair shop. I thanked them a lot before leaving the place, next moment i went to gas station and filled the tank and picked up Chinese food from  Golden China Buffet. food was OK i picked lot varieties including fried rice. I was not sure what they are going to eat. i reached the hotel when there is slight light left.

It became an adventurous trip for whole family. Arshiya is very co-operative. I read an article about surrounding vibrations and its impact on child, seems KIDs will recognize all vibrations to their surroundings  and behave accordingly. It is scientifically proven too.

Mean while Lakshmi took a bus from hotel to general store at lodgepole station with two bags full of dresses to get laundry done. Mainly for Arshiya sake. she connected the iPad to power, leg her watch until she is done. After iPad is ON, its almost like she is not there.  She was bit late at the laundry, she did check the bus timing and last available bus to Wuksachi lodge. When they are out from laundry, they a lost bus in the park But it will not go to Wuksachi Lodge. they got down half a mile away from hotel room, while they are struggling walking with all the luggage, one out-of-service Bus was passing by them, Bus driver stopped for both, he stopped at the hotel. World is beautiful and with full of even beautiful people.  we could not know it until we face them.

They were really hungry, as soon as i was at hotel, Lakshmi fed the rice to Arshiya and whatever she want to eat from what i bought. it was OK compared to last night dinner, a day before we went restaurant at  Wuksachi, food is really awesome But Lakshmi and Arshiya could not enjoy much because of they were not get used to eat non-indian food.  This trip was a wake up call for me to get Arshiya comfortable to eat some non-indian foods otherwise it will come a night mare for me. As i am avid lover for traveling and camping. I definitely want to do as many trip to different places with family and take Arshiya to many places to get experienced.  

Because of last minute glitch in the trip, Lakshmi did not feel happy at the end of trip. we were talking while we were driving back home. She wants to do one more camping trip for at least 3 days for coming labour day weekend. 

Yosemite 

As our last camping trip was messed up at then end because of car break down, we planned Yosemite trip to make it even. i could not get any camp site for labor day long weekend, instead what i planned i worked in holidays and took compensation days off in the middle of week.(my Manager in Cymer, San Diego was very sweet person). I took 3 days off from work in the middle of week followed by labor day weekend.

It is also 8 hours drive pretty much from our home. we started in the morning reached the Yosemite valley by evening. we went on easy rest of the day just played with Arshiya after tent is put on.

 Next morning, we need to move to different site diagonally, as we couldn't  get all 3 days in the same  site. we moved all our belongings to new site, our neighboring site tenet offered help but as it is diagonally adjacent we politely said we are fine.

second day was just roaming in the yosemite valley floor, visited mesuem in the village center.  we took the bus we stopped at few places in the valley. by sunset we were at curry village and want to eat there from pizza deck and coffee corner as it would be quick. we picked pizzas one cheese mainly for Gingiri and we also took showers at curry village before we goto camp site 

next day we went to Tanya lake on 120 east before Tuolumne meadows. it was one of the our favorite place. i have been to this lake more than 6 times. we let Arshiya play at shore of the lake. she played in the water until Arshiya was shivering a bit for cold air.